@butter
“Yes they can. They do not have to breast feed and they can give up their kids for adoption.”

You misunderstood my point. I’m saying that a woman doesn’t have the right to starve her child to death. As for adoption, that still qualifies as her taking responsibility for the child since she is finding someone to care for it. I even said as much in my previous comment:

“Unless she can find someone willing to take the responsibility from her, she has to ensure that the child is fed.”

“Prior to about 23 weeks, the brain structures necessary for any kind of perception are not there. It is much more like brain death than a coma.”

No it’s not. Brain death = zero brain activity. For over 90% of the pregnancy, the fetus has a primitive brain structure that maintains its heartbeat and blood flow. A brain dead person’s heart will not beat unless life support is used.

“As for animals, they can suffer and I do think that we should try to minimize their suffering as much as we can but their level of consciousness doesn’t put them on the same level as humans.”

I could say the same of newborn infants. Their brains have not developed to the point that they’re consciousness is even on the level of a chicken. A chicken can at least identify its surroundings, move on its own, and even feed itself. A month old baby can’t do any of those things.

@butter
“The separate body doesn’t have the right to be in another person’s body if they don’t want them there.”

Let me ask you one very simple question that easily refutes this. Where does one’s rights end?

The answer is simplicity itself. Your rights end where another person’s begin. My right to express myself does not permit me to violate your right to life. Similarly, a woman’s rights end where the rights of her child begin. Her child has a right to life. Unless the child is killing the mother (I do support abortions under life threatening scenarios) the mother has to respect that right.

The mother can can have operations to prevent pregnancy, but the fetus’s right to life trumps her preferences for not being pregnant.

@butter
“Does a right to life give the right to use another person body parts or be inside their body without permission?”

Do you REALLY want to go down this road?

To answer your question, yes it does mean that. Similarly, a woman who gives birth cannot revoke permission for the child to rely on her for sustenance. Or do you believe a mother has the right to say, “It’s my body and my money so I don’t have to feed you”? The child is her responsibility whether she wants it or not. Unless she can find someone willing to take the responsibility from her, she has to ensure that the child is fed.

So until someone comes up with a way to transfer a fetus into another woman or some artificial womb, I’d say it doesn’t matter whether she gave permission.

Really? Every single one? And how do we know this? Did you interview every single gay person in the world prior to them going through puberty?

Forgive me if I don’t believe someone who says they’ve always been gay. It’s a subjective point dependent entirely on the individual’s perspective. No gay person can point to a moment they “became” gay so their mind simply assumes they’ve always been that way.

Let me give you a similar example. I believe in G-d. I cannot recall a time I did not believe in G-d. Based purely upon my own feelings and perceptions, I would have to conclude that I’ve always believed. But cognitively I know this isn’t true.

Similarly, I cannot recall ever not liking rice. Was I born liking rice? On the flip side, being Jewish, I’ve never eaten bacon. Once when I was working back in college, I walked into a room where bacon was being cooked and found the aroma to be the single most oppressive smell I’ve ever encountered. Was I born that way?

@butter
Learn to read. I said COMA not brain dead. Brain dead is dead. Coma means minimal brain activity. Someone in a coma cannot experience anything, or even dream, but they do have brain activity. Many are capable of breathing on their own, their brain is often capable of maintaining their blood flow and even peristalsis (not that peristalsis is useful to someone in a coma).

In short, they share a lot in common with a fetus prior to 22 weeks. Can’t feel, requires nutrients fed through a tube to survive, but has a brain capable of maintaining essential bodily functions.

@butter
So if a person is in a coma and their brain function is less than that of mouse, we can kill them too? Besides, by that argument anyone who isn’t a vegan is an accessory to murder because all animals are able to feel, perceive, and experience subjectively.

@jrook
“When are you going to recognize and accept that Netanyahu did not receive the majority of the vote and did thus does not represent the majority of the israeli people.”

And? There has NEVER been an Israeli Prime Minister who had the majority of the vote (unless you count the VERY brief period where Israel directly elected Prime Ministers instead of using the parliamentary coalition method and even then I can’t guarantee you’ll find a single case). Netanyahu did receive the largest support among elected parties in order to become prime minister. Or to put it another way, the majority of the elected MKs, who represent the Israeli people, chose Netanyahu to become Prime Minister.

Also, more Israelis voted directly for Netanyahu than for any other candidate. Period.

“As a wealthy nation Israel should be ashamed to receive welfare in the form of military aid and foreign aid from the US.”

A couple of points. One, military aid IS foreign aid. Two, the only foreign aid Israel receives is military aid. So saying “military aid and foreign aid” is redundant.

Now that that’s out of the way, the military aid Israel receives is almost entirely spent in US markets. In short, that money functions like coupons that ensures that Israel buys their military equipment from us. We offer them discount prices, they agree not to buy from someone else. So in a way, that is investing in the US economy.

A fetus is not a baby. That is true. You know what else is true? A baby is an adolescent, an adolescent is not a teenager, and a teenager isn’t a senior citizen. That doesn’t make murdering an adolescent any less evil than murdering an adult.

@thatone
Forget paper. Back then scrolls were all made out of parchment, which decays faster than paper unless kept in airtight jars. Many of the dead sea scrolls are almost unreadable because their jars were broken or not sealed.

G-d only hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharaoh hardened his own heart. His stubbornness was punished with more stubbornness. Obama is similar. Obama belongs to the type that rejects other opinions and surrounds himself with only like minded people. Is it any surprise that he never changes his tune when everyone around him is saying the same thing as him? Of course not. Someone who refuses to acknowledge that someone else MIGHT know more than him will have his heart hardened again and again.

@ana
Is it possible for you to say ANYTHING involving Judaism without lying? Judaism is neither racial nor exclusive. Anyone can become Jewish provided they are willing to accept Judaic law. In fact, the Talmud mentions how Titus, the very man who destroyed the Second Temple, had a nephew who became a famous convert.

@rose
Get this through your head. They aren’t discriminating against gays. They are discriminating over which services to offset the public. They have offered their services to bake cakes for weddings, which they specify as being between a man and a woman.

If a t-shirt maker is asked to make a shirt that carries a message they disagree with, are they allowed to refuse service? Absolutely yes. It doesn’t matter of they oppose it for moral, political, or religious reasons. So long as it’s the message they oppose and not the customer, it’s their right to refuse.

Every business has the right to decide which services to offer. If a company chooses to only service traditional marriages, that’s their right. It’s not their fault that gays aren’t interested in those services. Or is it discrimination when lingerie shops refuse to sell products for men?